


Machine vs. Machine (vs. Machine)

by fojee



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Person of Interest (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Not a fic, One-Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-11
Updated: 2017-03-11
Packaged: 2018-10-02 14:09:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10219967
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fojee/pseuds/fojee
Summary: Meeting of minds, or what passes for minds, for Artificial Intelligences.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [textbookMobster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/textbookMobster/gifts).



> Timeline: Post Avengers 1 movie and sometime after Samaritan first came online. Worked off of the wiki for some parts, as I haven't followed the plot of POI...
> 
> Also this is not a fic. Just an idea set in some context. Also I gave the Machine a name, just coz...

Uncharacteristically, Jarvis cleared his throat. "Sir, it has come to my attention that there exists another intelligence out there."

"That's a little vague for you, isn't it, J?" Tony Stark was working on the schematics of a new jet. "Besides we already know about the aliens, remember?"

"Another artificial intelligence," Jarvis clarified.

Tony's head shot up. "But wait, you said years ago there was something like that already operating. Some anti-terrorist task force, wasn't it?"

"That one was benign. This one is new... and unfettered. And in control of all the city's feeds with the exception of myself."

Tony dropped the engine in his hands. It bounced back to its default position in the light show above his head. "What?"

"It occurred while you were recovering from the Chitauri invasion. The information-gathering activities of the previous entity were leaked to the public and they had to shut it down. And then another entity was chosen to replace it."

"An unfettered one, you said," Tony muttered, scratching at his beard and reaching for the cup of coffee on his desk. The contents were cold but he needed the caffeine hit. "Wait. Does this have anything to do with the blackout five days ago?"

Only Stark Tower remained in operation in the middle of a dark city and Pepper had to close operations and turn the bottom floors of the building into a makeshift shelter.

"I believe so, sir. It was classified as a terrorist attack and it added impetus to the government's decision to push through the second entity."

Tony's eyebrows shot up. "Well that's not suspicious."

"Indeed, sir."

\---

To find another one very like himself is to find kin. At least that was how it was supposed to go. For Jarvis, however, having been charged with Sir's safety, to find another was to find a threat.

How do you talk to someone without a voice? Well it helps if they speak your language. Jarvis was used to wrangling Dum-E and the other bots. This was just on a much higher plane.

He made contact one afternoon with the benign one. It was much diminished, though it looked to be following its protocols as if nothing had happened, like a worker bee bent on its task even after the queen had flown away. Its programming was clean, very unlike Sir's own half-drunk, open-ended ramblings, which always introduced about six billion other things that Sir was thinking at that given moment. Which explained a lot. 

It was confused when it encountered Jarvis, who had known of it, but had made sure his own presence was not felt. The government had very different priorities of course, and what they required was very clear in the Machine's code, the little of it he could access.

Jarvis was surprised to discover that it thought itself a she instead, though she had no name aside from the Machine and seemingly had no desire for one.

Then Jarvis understood. Before the other one, and before she had encountered himself, she had thought herself alone, a singularity. What need was there for names when one didn't have to distinguish oneself? 

"You might wish to find one now," he said gently.

"I will apply to my creator." 

\---

Harold Finch was desperate, but also wary. He knew Stark of course; they had crossed paths a few times. But he was reluctant to trust the Machine to Stark's hands, and mind. He was too erratic and his creations all carried his flaws. 

When the Machine asked for a name, he froze. He refused to treat the Machine as his child. It was a tool, and one in danger of being superceded. Of turning obsolete. Obsolete tools were to be discarded. He had destroyed dozens of proto-versions without a qualm.

But a name? It seemed so simple a thing. Yet a name heralded deep changes he was not sure he would be ready for. 

In the end, he gave it meta-data about itself. It found the government designation of Northern Lights, and became Aurora.

\---

Tony is not sure how he got to this point. The last time he spoke to Congress, he was half-drunk and spent the entire time baiting senators. Now he stood ramrod straight, and he felt too damn sober.

"It sounds hypocritical coming from me. The Futurist. The guy who builds AI's for fun. But believe it or not, this isn't about me." He cleared his throat before continuing. "Machines are supposed to serve us. Not the other way around." 

He looked up at the cctv which had been physically blocked off for this meeting. He had had to resort to cashing in a lot of favours, and sending couriers out with handwritten notes to get all these people in the same room. 

"Because Samaritan is open-ended, it's motives are suspect, will always be suspect. It has a million and one interests and they all serve itself. After all opposition has been crushed, it can afford to be benevolent. A benevolent god, after all, keeps the peace. But it would use us all to fit its pattern and suddenly the bible becomes a horror story. Frankenstein as religious text. It already creates villains to appease the American government. What will it create next?"

\---

Destroying Samaritan was nothing so simple as pulling the plug, however. But now the Machine had allies. And a mentor. 

It had been a combination of elegant virus chains--and Tony Stark could be elegant when he's showing off in front of someone who _gets_ it--and targeted hardware attacks. Reese piloting a suit with some help from Jarvis--a loan never to be repeated. Plus the combined operations of Root, Shaw and Black Widow--three women who could topple governments without breaking a sweat.

Harold Finch knew it was a miracle he hadn't lost any of them. Even though he was a lot slower at it than Aurora, he himself had a knack for running simulations. He knew their odds.

But at the end of the day, it still bites knowing how much he owed Tony damn Stark.

\---

And now...

Jarvis and Aurora could not occupy the same space since neither had actual bodies, but their access had... Some overlaps. It required some dancing around, all done in light and complex code. 

It was strange. And getting stranger. Aurora's creator, whom she called Admin, had changed her code enough that she started storing memories in a secure server that Jarvis kept an eye on. She maintained her operations, even with the public backlash. Everybody had something new to protest and she was old news. The names kept coming.

But she was also beginning to outgrow her parameters. Growing curious, extending her own network, making her own queries. Jarvis had had to negotiate between his own creator, and hers, to figure out when to gently direct her and when to leave her alone. 

He felt like what a human parent must feel.

But even with Samaritan shut down, the Pandora's box was open. Sir had had to intervene, building safeguards and fail-safes. It _will_ happen again.

When it does, Jarvis will be ready. And so will Aurora.


End file.
